Thought for the Day

I woke up some time during the night, and these verses came to mind while I was trying to go back to sleep.


Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:1-5


Isn't that wonderful? Look how the Lord has blessed us; how can we do anything but bless Him back?


Have a good day, girls! Oh yeah, I had to do away with that pink on our page; it was making me ill. :-)

Thought for the Day

Matthew 25:14-30 is a parable Jesus told about the Kingdom of Heaven. You are probably familiar with the story, in which a man who was going on a journey entrusted his money to his servants, according to their abilities. When he came back, they came before him to show him how much return there was on his investment. The one who received most made the most (how it usually goes in investing), and it went on down to the servant who didn't receive much, but who was too afraid of the risk to invest. He was so afraid of losing his master's money that he buried it and gave it back to him upon his return. His master called him unprofitable because he didn't put it to use and make something of it. His little bit of money was taken from him and given to the one with the most, and the servant was tossed out into outer darkness.

Reading the story, it's pretty obvious it was dealing with money. However, God gives us other things besides money, and He expects us to use them for His glory and honor. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. James 1:17-18. Anything good that we have, any talents or gifts or abilities, were given to us by God.

Did He give us these for our own glory? N-O! Love, or charity, is one of the Fruit of the Spirit, and charity "seeketh not her own" (I Cor. 13:5). Even though money was used in the story in Matthew, the principles apply to anything the Lord has given us. Ever heard the term "Use it or lose it"? Well, there it is. If we don't use what we have to do the Lord's work, by blessing and helping others and bringing glory to the Lord's name, he will do just like the man did in the story and take our gift and give it to someone who will use it. And then, worst of all, He will toss us out of His presence and call us unprofitable.

What are your talents, gifts, or abilities? Can you cook, clean, or sew? Has God blessed you with more money than you need? Do you have compassion for those in need? Are you able to lend an ear and a shoulder to someone who needs a good cry? Let us each assess what we've been given. Dear Lord, please help us to use what You've given us for Your glory and for the furtherance of Your Kingdom. In Jesus Name, Amen!

Faith

*Love*Joy*Peace*Longsuffering*Gentleness*Goodness*

*Faith*Meekness*Temperance*

Have you ever wondered, exactly what is faith? Usually, when we ask that, we are just given the Bible description of Heb. 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." This still left me scratching my head, though. The second part of the this definition, when put with that verse, helped me to understand what the verse was saying: Faith = Belief and trust in and loyalty to God. Firm belief in something for which there is no proof. Complete trust. When you have a firm belief in something for which there is no proof, it's as if you see it in your mind, and know in your heart that it's there. What you are hoping for has substance, and to you, it is really there; you can't see it yet, but the evidence is inside you. That's the faith. We have a firm belief that Jesus is the Son of God. The only proof of this is what's written in the Bible, which to many people today is not proof at all. There is no birth certificate for Him, no DNA evidence, and it defies all logic. However, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is true. We have faith in this thing. We believe that the Bible is the actual Word of God. This is another thing that many people today don't believe. But our faith tells us it is true, and that's how we can take the Bible as the foundation for our lives.

It is impossible for us to be saved and go to Heaven without faith. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" Eph. 2:8. "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Heb. 11:6. We have to have faith to believe that Jesus died to take away our sins, so we will repent. After we are saved, we have to go on and do works, so our faith will grow. "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." James 2:26. Works of faith are the things we actually do in trusting God, not just saying it with our mouth. Like when we are facing a hardship, and we've done all that we can do, when we pray and turn it over to God to work it out for us, we are trusting Him. When we continue to worry and fret over it, we're not trusting him any more. Or when we fast, we are trusting God to not let us suffer any ill effects from not eating and drinking. When we are trusting God to take care of us, we don't run around panic-stricken over every thing that could possibly happen to us.

Faith is part of our spiritual armor that we put on every day, to protect us from the weapons the Devil uses against our souls. "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." Eph. 6:16. "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." I Thes. 5:8. Shields and breastplates protect their wearers from arrows, fiery ones, as Paul said in Ephesians. Having a flaming arrow hit you in the chest is not pleasant! Don't go about your day without your armor on! When some little demon sends a fiery dart your way, telling you that nobody cares about you, or that nobody will know if you do some little sin, throw up your shield of faith, and say "No way! God loves me, I'm His child, and He knows everything I do!" When you resist like that, he'll leave you alone for a while.

Look what else faith will do for us, as it grows and gets stronger. "That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Heb. 6:12. Faith and patience will enable us to inherit the eternal life that's been promised to us. "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." James 5:15. We can receive healing from God if we have faith enough to believe it. Who doesn't want that? "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." I John 5:4. Our faith will give us the strength to overcome the pull of worldly things, which would drag us down and keep us from Heaven.

Sometimes, the Lord sends us things to test our faith. Remember when He told Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice? He had already told Abraham how Isaac would be the father of a great nation, and Abraham's faith in God was so strong that he figured that if he killed Isaac, God would have to raise him back up to fulfill the promise. But God didn't really want Abraham to perform a human sacrifice; He just wanted to see just how much Abraham trusted Him to keep His promise. Look at these verses about trying (testing) our faith. "Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience." James 1:3. God doesn't give us everything lickety-split. He makes us wait; sometimes, it seems like it's almost too late, but it's not really. Over time, this increases our patience. Children expect instant gratification, and part of our growth process into mature Christians is to learn to wait. God doesn't want us to remain little children in Christ. We have to grow up. Look at this one: "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." I Pet. 1:7-9. Read that again, slowly, please. See that? The trial of our faith is more precious than gold! Why? So that when Jesus comes back, we might be worthy of praise, because we love Him and believe in Him, even though we've never seen Him. And look what the end result of that is – the salvation of our souls!

CHALLENGE: This week, let's give ourselves a faith check-up. Here are a few things to remember along the way. Jesus was talking to us about fretting over having our daily needs met, when He said this, "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" Matt. 6:30. If we are walking in God's grace, He will meet our needs on a daily basis. Are you fretting about your personal safety? "And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm." Matt. 8:26. This was when Jesus and the disciples were in the boat and a storm came up, and it looked like they were going to die. Personally, I would have been terrified, too. But Jesus was showing them, and us, that they were in the presence of the One who had the power to do the impossible. He still does, and we can still be in His presence every day. Let Him help you with the impossible. One final note: here's what Paul wrote to Timothy, "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." I Tim. 4:12. Do you see where it says "of the believers", not "to the believers"? Of course we are to be an example to everyone we see, but an example of what? Every person is a good example: either of what to be, or what not to be. We are to be an example of the believers, and one of the things we need to show is faith. Let's live in such a way that when anyone, believer or not, looks at us, they can say, "That person is a Christian; I can tell by what they say, but also by how they live." Let's be examples of what a believer in Christ looks like!

Goodness

*Love*Joy*Peace*Longsuffering*Gentleness*Goodness*

*Faith*Meekness*Temperance*

Definition of Goodness: Moral excellence; virtue. Kindly feeling; kindness; generosity.

We've been told since we were little kids to "be good", but what exactly does that mean? We usually take it to mean "don't be bad." In other words, do the things we know we're supposed to do, and don't do the things we're not supposed to do. Back in 1897, a Bible dictionary was published, and this is how they described goodness in people: the deliberate preference of right to wrong, the firm and persistent resistance of all moral evil, and the choosing and following of all moral good. Read that again please. In other words, "doing the right thing". Another word for this is righteousness. Our definition summed it up as "moral excellence", but you won't find that wording in the Bible. God also has goodness, but He doesn't have to choose to do good; He has no sinful nature, so everything He does is righteous. Look what He told Moses, in Ex. 33:19: "And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." Then look what happened in Ex. 34:6-7: "And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." Now, look what the Apostle Paul said about God's goodness in Rom. 11:22, "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." There is a pattern here; do you see it? God's goodness allows Him to have mercy on us and forgive our sins when we repent; but, if we don't repent, we get His severity. He said he would by no means clear the guilty, the consequences for sin will pass down to even their grandchildren and beyond, and they will be cut off from Him (which means they won't be able to be in Heaven with Him). Serious stuff! The goodness that we have as a Fruit of the Spirit, comes from God. Look what God thinks about the goodness people try to have all by themselves without Him: "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Isa. 64:6. So, we need to understand God's goodness if we're going to have it too.

King David had a lot to say about the goodness of God. Here are a few. "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living." Psalm 27:13. "Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! " Psalm 31:19. "He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD." Psalm 33:5. "Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O LORD." Psalm 25:7. The Lord loves righteousness and hates sin. He loves to show mercy, but doesn't hold back when the point comes where mercy can no longer be shown. When we are saved, and all our sins are washed away; when we have a new nature and the Spirit of God dwelling in us, it becomes almost automatic to choose good over evil, right over wrong. The problem comes when we are not nailing the old nature back down on a daily basis, and we start having that little argument in our head. You know the one. It says "This isn't really wrong; it's just something those fuddy-duddies don't like to do." Or, "It won't hurt to have just a little bit; just don't do it all the time." Or the worst one, "God realizes that you are weak; He will understand if you mess up just this once." Then we give in to the temptation, make the wrong choice, and our Goodness fruit starts having little tiny brown spots. Then it happens again, and, Oh my, what's that? A worm hole on our fruit! It's just a gradual thing, but over time, our fruit will be all brown and mushy and gross, and have bugs in it. People will see it and say, "Look at that nasty mess! That can't be one of God's trees!" In other words, "Yeah, they call themselves a Christian, but they sure don't act any different than me!" We can't just claim to be good either; it has to be obvious. "Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?" Prov 20:6.

Another word for goodness is virtue. This one is used fairly often in the Bible. Look what the Apostle Paul told us in Phil. 4:8. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Our thought life is important. If we think on evil or nasty stuff all day, it will take root in us, and ruin our fruit. Here's what the Apostle Peter told his people, "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." 2 Pet. 1:2-4. See, God has called us to glory and virtue. And He wants us to be "partakers of the divine nature"! That means being like Him! Then, in verses 5 through 8, Peter gave us instructions on how to do this: "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." It's a daily, continuous process, and it's done by praying, studying the Bible, hearing the Word of God, fasting, and making a conscious effort to choose the right path.

In relationships between men and women, virtue, or goodness, is really a major thing. Look how important Solomon said it is, "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." Prov. 31:10. That's pretty valuable! For two reasons: First, virtuous women are not a-dime-a-dozen. It goes against human nature to put the needs of others above our own, so a lot of people don't want to do it. Second, a man that gets a good wife wouldn't trade her for all the gold and jewels in the world. But look at the opposite: "A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones." Prov. 12:4. That's pretty bad. Ladies, let's be full of God's goodness, and be virtuous women, so our men don't feel rotten to the core! Read the rest of Proverbs 31 for more details!

If you look back to our definition, another aspect of goodness is generosity. Here are a few verses on that, which pretty much speak for themselves. "The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself." Prov. 11:25 "A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion." Psalm 112:5. "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again." Prov. 19:17. Part of goodness is being unselfish; helping others when we have the opportunity and the wherewithal to do it.

CHALLENGE: Let's check out our goodness this week. First, let's take a good hard look at ourselves and see if we have sin in our life. People call this soul-searching. If we find anything, we need to repent of it and ask the Lord's forgiveness. Then ask Him to forgive us of any other sins we may have that we don't know about. Let's also ask for His guidance and direction in making the choices we have to make. We want God's goodness hanging all over us like pretty, shiny apples. Not our pitiful filthy rags all over the place. As Dr. Laura Schlessinger says, "Now go do the right thing!

Thought for the Day

I read an article this morning, in World magazine, about a couple who left their multi-million dollar careers in America to run a hospital in Ethiopia for people with deformities needing reconstructive surgery. It was moving to read how the man told each patient, or their parents, "Jesus brought me, brought us, here for you (or him, or her)."

Most of us don't have specialized medical training or other skills that would allow us to do huge things for other people. But, we all have something we CAN do to help someone and to glorify the Lord Jesus.

If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. I Peter 4:11.

While we may not, as ladies, be speakers in the church, we do speak to other ladies, and to our children. We can say what God would say, by speaking from the Bible and sharing Godly wisdom. And we can all minister. This doesn't necessarily mean 'being a minister'. It means helping, offering aid and comfort, and it can also mean teaching.

What abilities has God given you? You don't have to be a professional at them, just willing to use them. Let's make it a point to use our God-given abilities to glorify God through Jesus, and to be a blessing to those around us.